New rules on migration and asylum are now in force in Europe. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni believes that her policy has set an example that is now being followed across the EU.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's refugee policy looks like a model for the new "Common European Asylum System" (CEAS). Her government opened a reception and deportation center in Albania at the end of 2024 for over 1,000 people at an estimated cost of around 670 million euros, German public broadcaster ARD recalls.
Now the EU has also opened the way for such deportation centers in third countries. And Meloni is patting herself on the back. "An innovative solution that many fought against, but thanks to this government it has become a tool that is now available to the whole of Europe", she said of the changes in European migration and asylum policy.
However, Italian courts have stopped accelerated asylum procedures in Albania. Migrants detained at sea by the coast guard and transferred to Albania had to return to Italy to continue their asylum procedures there. Currently, the center is used only for deportations – for about 80 people whose asylum applications were rejected.
"The center has been empty for almost a year, even though the Italian state spent a lot of money on it," Andrea Costa from the Roman refugee aid organization "Baobab" told ARD. Activists wonder if this money could not have been spent to help asylum seekers.
According to Costa, with the entry into force of the new European asylum system, Italy will return to its original plan: not only deportations from Albania, but also accelerated asylum procedures for migrants with a low chance of staying, coming from countries considered safe - such as Egypt or Tunisia. Costa wonders whether Tunisia is really a safe country to return people to.
The agreement with Tunisia has led to less migration
In 2023, Meloni concluded an agreement with Tunisia on behalf of the EU, ARD recalls. The deal: we support you financially, and you commit to stopping the vessels that set off from the Tunisian coast to Europe. "This is an important first step towards creating a real partnership with the European Union that can deal with the migration crisis", Meloni said in June 2023.
The effect of the agreement with Tunisia is visible in the statistics. In Meloni's first year in power, over 157,000 migrants arrived in Italy via the Mediterranean. In 2026, the authorities registered only 12,404 arrivals, the German public media noted.
But human rights organizations describe Tunisia as an "open prison for refugees". It has been repeatedly reported that refugees caught on the coast are abandoned in the desert. Andrea De Petris, research director at the Center for European Policy in Rome, warns of the moral price that Europe and Italy are paying for this deal. "This type of agreement is in clear contradiction with the obligations that Italy, as a member of the European Union, which is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights and the Geneva Convention on Refugees, should respect", De Petris told ARD.
"Meloni is testing the limits of what is legally possible. Not only in Albania, but also in private maritime rescue operations. Ships are prevented from setting sail," De Petris also explained. Since Meloni's government came to power, private rescue ships have been stuck in ports for more than 1,000 days, according to SOS Humanity. "Non-governmental organizations can no longer rescue migrants in distress in the same way, because decrees force them, for example, not to take them to the nearest safe port, but 300, 400 or 500 nautical miles from the rescue site," says de Petris.
Meloni sees himself as a pioneer
All this has consequences, writes ARD. According to the International Organization for Migration, 6,492 refugees have gone missing or died since 2023. In the first half of this year alone, the Mediterranean Sea was the deadliest escape route in the world.
Difficult rescue operations, accelerated asylum procedures, deportation centers in third countries: Meloni is introducing new standards in Italy and the EU. "Let's protect the borders, drastically reduce the number of arrivals, fight human traffickers, strengthen cooperation with countries of origin and transit and immediately return those who have no right to stay here. Italy showed the way, and today Europe is following this path," says the Italian Prime Minister.
Meloni's restrictive policy is becoming an example to follow. The results for her are rather secondary, writes ARD. Instead, she is betting on her image as an innovator in European migration policy.